by Betsy Haynes
THE FABULOUS FIVE #5
THE BRAGGING WAR
BETSY HAYNES
A BANTAM SKYLARK BOOK®
TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON • SYDNEY • AUCKLAND
RL 5, 009-012
THE BRAGGING WAR
A Bantam Skylark Book / February 1989
Skylark Books is a registered trademark of Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and elsewhere.
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1989 by Betsy Haynes and James Haynes.
Cover art copyright © 1989 by Ralph Amatrudi.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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ISBN 0-553-15651-9
Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words "Bantam Books" and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10103.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
S 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CHAPTER 1
Barry put the cap back on the toothpaste tube and grinned widely at herself in the bathroom mirror.
"Ah," she whispered. "The face of a star! Movies? Television? The stage? Maybe I'll do the very first variety show ever televised from outer space." She giggled and picked up her hairbrush, holding it up like a microphone and animating her words with exaggerated gestures like ones she had seen on television. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is Beth Barry coming to you live—from the MOON!" She started to break into song and a dance step but stopped, letting the hand holding the hairbrush drift downward to rest on the sink again. Then she leaned forward until her nose almost touched the mirror.
"The mouth," she grumbled as she frowned at her own reflection. "My eyes and nose are okay, but why do I have to have such a big mouth? It's huge! It's terrible! It's gross! How can I ever become a star with a mouth like that?"
"Beth! Will you get out of the bathroom and give someone else a chance!" bellowed her older brother Brian from the hall. "You're going to make me late for school."
She gave herself one last appraising look in the mirror, pinched her mouth together with a thumb and forefinger to make it look smaller, and then hurried to her room to get her books, stopping only long enough to make a gruesome face at Brian.
Her mouth was still on her mind when she got to Wakeman Junior High, or Wacko Junior High as most kids called it, and she hurried to the special spot by the fence where she always met her four best friends before school in the morning.
Their clique was called The Fabulous Five, and they had been close friends since early in grade school in spite of the fact that their personalities were very different. Jana Morgan was the unofficial leader, and whenever the group had trouble with Taffy Sinclair or their rivals, The Fantastic Foursome, she was usually the one with the cool head. Melanie Edwards had gotten carried away with getting thin and pretty last year in sixth grade, and now she was totally boy crazy. At one time Melanie had thought she was in love with Scott Daly, Shane Arrington, and Garrett Boldt—all at once. Christie Winchell was smart and popular, and she definitely wouldn't let anyone push her around. And then there was Katie Shannon, who wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up and defend women from the injustices of the world. She was even one of the judges on Wacko's new Teen Court.
It was Katie who spoke up first when Beth reached them and popped the question about whether or not her mouth was too big.
"Well, sometimes it is," Katie said seriously. "But most people know not to pay too much attention to what you say. You're just being dramatic most of the time."
Beth looked at her in stunned silence for a moment and then burst out, "I'm not talking about what I say! This is serious. I'm talking about the size. You know," she implored. "Does it spoil my looks?"
"I don't think it's too big," offered Jana. "It fits your face. You wouldn't be Beth Barry if it were different."
"Thanks, Jana," Beth said, and then sighed. "You're a super friend, but what I really want to know is whether or not you think my mouth will spoil my chances of becoming an actress."
Melanie giggled. "Not if you get to play parts where you do a lot of kissing!"
Everyone broke up at that. Even Beth.
"Come on, guys. Cut the comedy," said Christie. "It's almost time for the bell."
Beth pursed her lips and headed toward the front door of the school with her four friends. When they passed the gum tree, she stopped and slapped a pink wad of watermelon bubble gum onto an empty space on the bark. The old oak tree was dotted with chewing gum of every color in the rainbow because Mr. Bell, the principal, absolutely loathed gum in class. The students had decided that the oak tree was the perfect place to leave their gum before entering the building every morning.
Melanie wrinkled her nose. "That tree is gross," she muttered.
"Not as gross as what I see over there," said Jana, pointing to a small crowd of girls that was gathering on the sidewalk near the door.
Beth glanced toward the crowd. In the center stood The Fantastic Foursome, the rival clique that had come to Wacko Junior High from Riverfield Elementary School. Laura McCall was their leader, and she was the one everyone else was listening to. She was tall and pretty with a long braid that started at the top of her head and reached all the way to her waist. Now as she talked, she wore a superior look on her face and flicked the end of her braid back and forth with one hand like a cat flicks its tail. Beside her stood tiny, black-haired Tammy Lucero, whom everyone knew loved to talk. Beth could see by the way she was bouncing up and down that she was dying to get a word in. Beside Tammy was blond, prissy Melissa McConnell, who was a perfectionist with a capital P. Last was Funny Hawthorne, smiling, as usual. Some people thought she was a bubblehead because she laughed at practically everything, but Beth knew that Jana believed she was just a nice girl with a great sense of humor.
"What do you think Laura and her crowd are up to now?" asked Melanie.
"I don't know," said Beth, "but if you ask me, we'd better find out. They might be spreading rumors about us."
"I agree," said Jana. "That seems to be their favorite thing to do."
"Or maybe Laura's bragging again," said Christie. "She thinks it's such a big deal that her parents are divorced and she lives with her father. She just loves to go around telling everyone about how she has him wrapped around her little finger and can get away with absolutely anything."
Beth and her friends moved closer until they were only a few feet away and definitely close enough to hear what Laura was saying. Christie had been right.
"And that's not all," Laura was boasting. "My dad let me take his new red Maserati out all by myself."
"Do you mean that you drove it?" Alexis Duvall asked incredulously.
What? thought Beth. Laura has to be kidding.
She glanced at her four friends and they all looked as if they didn't believe Laura's big story either.
"Of course," replied Laura, tilting her chin upward. "My dad lets me do anything I want to. He even said that next time I can give my friends a ride." Tammy, Melissa, and Funny were nodding in agreement.
"But you're only thirteen," said Gloria Drexler. "You don't have a driver's license!"
/> "So?" said Laura. "My dad knows I'm a good driver."
"But what if a policeman stops you?" Mona Vaughn asked in an excited voice. "It's against the law to drive a car without a license. It wouldn't matter that your dad let you do it."
Laura chuckled. "That's what you think. My dad knows the police chief and most of the officers. They wouldn't give me a ticket."
Laura shot a haughty look in the direction of The Fabulous Five and then flipped her braid over her shoulder and strolled confidently toward the school. Her three friends followed her, but so did several other girls, including some from Mark Twain Elementary, The Fabulous Five's old school. Every single one of them was chattering and trying to get Laura's attention.
"Will you look at that!" cried Beth. "There go Alexis and Sara and Kim. They actually believed her."
"That liar!" Katie spat out the words.
"Right!" said Jana. "I don't care if her father does let her get away with murder. No parent would let a seventh-grader take the car all by herself. I don't care how many policemen he knows. How could those kids fall for a phony story like that?"
"I don't know either," said Melanie. "But they certainly did. Just look at them. They're tripping over their feet to talk to her."
"Yeah," said Christie. "Alexis and Kim and Sara are supposed to be our friends, not hers."
"Don't you get it?" said Katie. "She's doing that on purpose. She wants everybody to think that The Fantastic Foursome are really big deals and The Fabulous Five are a bunch of losers."
Beth narrowed her eyes as she watched Laura lead the group of adoring girls into the building. It was disgusting. They couldn't let Laura get away with a thing like that.
CHAPTER 2
"Somebody think of a way to get back at Laura McCall," ordered Beth, kicking a rock through the grass as she and the rest of The Fabulous Five headed for their place by the fence after lunch.
She had had a terrible morning. First her boyfriend, Keith Masterson, had stopped her in the hall between classes to ask if she had heard about Laura's getting to drive her father's car. He had gone on and on about Laura until Beth had wanted to throw up.
What if Keith decided he liked Laura now instead of her because of Laura's bragging? The Barry family car was an ancient van that was big enough to hold two parents, five kids, and a gigantic old English sheepdog. It was dented, rusted, and full of dog hair. She could never compete with a snazzy little red Maserati in a car like that.
Then, to make matters worse, in every single class she saw girls whispering among themselves and heard the words "Maserati," "driving," and "Laura McCall." It had burned her up just to think about how Laura was impressing the socks off everybody with her phony story, but so far, she hadn't been able to come up with a way to get even.
"I've been trying hard to think of something," said Christie. "But who can top a story like hers?"
"And did you see the way everybody was crowding around her in the cafeteria just now?" asked Jana. "I don't think any of our old friends from Mark Twain Elementary even so much as looked our way. They were too busy buttering up Laura."
"It wasn't just the girls who were buttering her up, either," said Beth. "There were plenty of boys trying to get her attention, too. I saw Keith in the halls this morning, and all he could talk about was Laura McCall."
"Thank goodness I didn't see Randy hanging around her," said Jana. "But I'll admit there were lots of other Mark Twain boys trying to crowd in at her table."
"They all probably think she'll take them for a ride in her father's sports car," grumbled Melanie.
"Big deal!" said Katie, rolling her eyes toward the sky.
"You bet it's a big deal," said Beth. "I can't stand it when somebody tries to make The Fabulous Five look like losers, especially to the boys."
"Hey, guys. Look. Over by the bike rack," said Jana.
Beth glanced around and saw Alexis Duvall and Lisa Snow. They had gone to Mark Twain Elementary with The Fabulous Five and were good friends of Beth and the others. Now they were talking excitedly, and Lisa was bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"Let's go see what's up," said Beth. "I could use some good news."
Beth led her four friends toward Alexis and Lisa, but the instant The Fabulous Five were within earshot of the two girls, both stopped talking and guarded expressions appeared on their faces.
"What's so exciting?" asked Melanie.
"Yeah?" said Christie. "You two look as if you just heard something juicy."
Lisa exchanged nervous glances with Alexis. "Oh, nothing," she said, and shrugged. "We were just acting silly."
"Come on, guys," insisted Beth. "You were excited about something. Are you going to tell us, or not?"
Alexis lifted her chin. "Okay," she said. "I'll tell you. Laura McCall is having a slumber party Friday night, and she just invited both of us."
"What's so great about that?" asked Katie. "Slumber parties are fun, but they're no big deal."
"Well, this one is," Lisa assured them. "Laura said that her father will be out of town and that Mrs. Skinner, the lady that stays with her, is hard of hearing."
Alexis cut in. "Not only that—but Laura said that Mrs. Skinner goes to bed early, and as soon as she goes to her room, we're going to sneak out and do something that will be a real blast." She looked at Lisa again, and when their eyes met, both girls started giggling.
Beth had a sinking feeling. Oh, no, she thought. Laura is at it again. Just like the time she had the party and invited the boyfriends of The Fabulous Five and didn't invite them. "So what is this 'real blast' thing you're going to do?" she asked angrily.
Lisa turned to Beth. Mirth was shining in Lisa's eyes, and the more she tried to stop laughing, the more little giggles burst out. "Sorry," she said finally. "Laura swore us to secrecy."
"Anybody who tells the secret plan gets the ax," said Alexis. Then the smile left her face and she looked at The Fabulous Five solemnly. "Honest. You guys know that we would tell you if we could."
"Sure," muttered Beth, stomping off toward the school. She couldn't remember when she'd felt so angry. When she got almost to the building, she turned and yelled as loud as she could. "AND THE MOON IS MADE OUT OF GREEN CHEESE, TOO!"
"Wow," said Jana as she and the others caught up with Beth. "You really let them have it."
"'We'd tell you if we could. Honest,'" Beth mimicked in a high-pitched voice. "I'll bet they would," she added sarcastically. "They used to be our friends, but now Laura is wrapping them around her little finger the same as she's done with her dad."
Melanie nodded. "In fact, she's probably started giving them orders and making them do things to be friends with her just the way she does with Tammy, Melissa, and Funny. Pretty soon it will probably be The Fantastic Six or The Fantastic Seven."
"Yuck," said Christie. "There are too many of them already."
"Wait a minute," Beth said slowly. An idea was forming in her mind. "I've got a great idea!" she shouted as her spirits began to soar. "We'll have a slumber party the same night as Laura's. In fact, we can have it at my house. And we'll ask everybody that Laura might ask, only we'll get to them before she does."
"How do you know we can do that?" asked Christie. "Maybe she's already asked everybody."
"You could tell from the way Alexis and Lisa were acting that Laura had just asked them," said Jana. "I doubt if she's had time to get to everyone. I think Beth has a good idea."
"Me, too," said Melanie. "But are you sure that your parents will let you have a slumber party?"
"Sure," said Beth, sounding more confident than she felt. Being the middle child of five made it hard to get her parents' attention most of the time, much less to get them to agree to disrupting the family's weekend with a huge slumber party. Still, there wasn't time to check it out first.
"Hey," shouted Katie. "Here come Kim and Sara. Let's grab them before Laura gets them in her clutches."
The Fabulous Five made a beeline for Kim Baxter and Sara Sawyer
, who were just coming out the cafeteria door and onto the school ground. Like Alexis and Lisa, they were old friends from Mark Twain and had always been loyal to their former schoolmates. They were talking quietly to each other. Good, thought Beth. They aren't as excited as Alexis and Lisa. Laura probably hasn't gotten to them yet.
"Hi," Beth said brightly as she and her friends came to a stop directly in Kim and Sara's path. "I'm going to have a slumber party Friday night. Can you two come?"
Kim and Sara looked at each other solemnly. "Gosh," said Sara. "We'd love to . . . except . . ." Her voice trailed off and she looked down at her feet.
"Except what?" demanded Beth. When they didn't answer instantly, she went on in a sarcastic voice, "Except that Lau-RA asked you first. Is that it?"
"Beth. Knock it off," said Jana, tugging at Beth's shirtsleeve.
Beth ignored her best friend. "What did she promise you? A ride in her dad's sports car?"
Sara put her hands on her hips and faced Beth angrily. "We would have come to your party if you'd asked us first, but you didn't. And I'm glad now. Laura's party is going to be a blast, and she's not a total grouch like you are."
Kim nodded her agreement, and the two spun around and marched off in the opposite direction.
Beth groaned. "I blew that, didn't I?" Nobody answered, but she knew that they all agreed. "I'm sorry. It's just that Laura McCall makes me so mad. Who does she think she is anyway, always trying to steal our friends and make us look bad?"
"Forget it," said Katie. "Isn't that Gloria Drexler and Marcie Bee over by the corner of the building? Surely Laura hasn't already asked them."
But Laura had. Beth had trouble controlling herself again when Marcie said, "And is it ever going to be fun. Laura made us promise that we wouldn't tell anyone what we're going to do, but I'll tell you one thing. I can't wait!"
Just as she had heard about Laura all morning, all through afternoon classes Beth caught snatches of conversations between girls who had been invited to Laura's slumber party. Laura had invited girls from Mark Twain Elementary, from Riverfield, and also from Copper Beach. And what was worse, all of them were bursting with excitement.
